PHNOM PENH, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Friday lashed out at the United States for interfering in Cambodia's internal affairs and stopping issuing visas to Cambodian foreign ministry high ranking officials.
"I'd like to call on our compatriots to stand up, holding the policy of nationalism, in order to protect our national sovereignty and oppose the interference from the foreign power," the prime minister said during a visit to more than 10,000 garment factory workers in the western outskirts of Phnom Penh.
"I don't want to see the events like in 1965 and in 1966 - the anti-American Embassy protests - to happen again, but the spirit of nationalism among the Cambodian people is high and (we) cannot accept your insult," he said.
Argument between the two countries has escalated these weeks after the Cambodian government accused the United States of secretly supporting recently-arrested opposition leader Kem Sokha to oust the government. However, the United States denied the allegations.
"Cambodia has no intention to make troubles with the U.S., so the U.S. should not watch Cambodia in the bad way," he said.
Meanwhile, Hun Sen announced that the country suspended cooperation with the United States in searching for the remains of American soldiers missing in Cambodia during the Vietnam War decades ago.
Ninety American soldiers had gone missing in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, and only 41 of them had been found so far, he said.
Hun Sen said the suspension was made in retaliation for the U.S. visa ban on Cambodian foreign ministry high ranking officials. The U.S. side said the visa restrictions came after Cambodia refused to accept or unreasonably delayed the return of its nationals, whom the United States seeks to expel.
The Cambodian prime minister said Cambodia did not cancel a deportation agreement with the U.S. side, which was signed 15 years ago, but requested the United States to amend the agreement to allow convicted Cambodians to continue living in the country after they had served their prison sentence.
Under the effective agreement, Cambodians, who are permanent residents of the United States, will be deported to Cambodia if they are convicted of a felony.
Hun Sen said that it is an "inhumane" act to deport those convicted Cambodians, separating them from their family members in the United States for the whole life.
Some 550 convicted criminals with Cambodian heritage have been deported from the United States since 2002, many of whom cannot even speak Cambodian language.
